Chinese retail giant AliExpress raised the curtain on its first physical store in Europe on Thursday, ahead of its opening which will take place this Sunday in Madrid.

Footage shows the store's first visitors and media strolling through the outlet in the Xanadu shopping centre, where phones, drones and watches were on display among other items.

The mayor of the Madrid municipality of Arroyomolinos Anna Millan welcomed the choice of the location for the 'offline' store and added that "AliExpress has their support as long as they create wealth and employment."

Eduardo Pisa, Categories Director of AliExpress Spain, explained that the new store aims at generating an experience that is "completely complementary to the buying-online-experience."

AliExpress, which is part of the Alibaba group, first experimented with physical stores in Madrid at the end of 2018, with a one-day pop-up store inside the Sanchinarro mall.